POSTSCRIPT
WORLD
Vive French
Exceptionalism
noblemen in post-war Europe have played the gigolo to affluent
American dowagers. Then, in the golden days of Venice,
powerful merchant princes recruited cicisbeos, or romantic
escorts, to keep their restless wives busy while they concentrated on the more serious business of amassing wealth and
power. But these were dalliances. What is unusual is the unIn the 16th century, King Henri took political advice
wavering passion of a young man for a much older woman.
from a much older woman he was involved with,
For this reason, a relationship of a similar nature in France
like the new president apparently does.
five centuries ago became legendary, perhaps inspiring the
young Macron. After one of the periodic wars between
Achala Moulik
Emperor Charles V of Spain and King Francis I of France, in 1525,
the
former took the two little sons of the French king as hostage.
he French are said to be the most pragmatic of people
Crown Prince Francis was aged eight and Henri seven. They
and wise in the ways of the world. As inhabitants of
were to live in Spain until their father paid war reparations.
the Roman province of Gaul, they outwitted their rulers’
But Francis I was busy ushering the Renaissance into France,
legions and were the first Europeans to make friends with the
gathering poets, sculptors and artists such as Leonardo da
powerful Abbasid Empire of Harun al-Rashid in the second half
Vinci and Benvenuto Cellini, and collecting a bevy of costly
of the eighth century. Tiring of the rigours of the Crusade,
mistresses. He did not have money to pay the ransom for his
many refused to return to their barbaric lands, settling instead
heirs. Their mother, Queen Claude, had just died, so there was
in the affluent and luxurious cities of West Asia. (The numerous
no one else in that extravagant court to plead their cause.
blue-eyed, tawny-haired people in the region may be one
In Bayonne, a frontier town between France and Spain, a
legacy of this entente cordiale.) The French instigated revolutions to establish republics and then, wearying of
She advised him to delegation of grim Spaniards waited to take the
republican virtues, restored kings and emperors.
establish peace with two princes to Madrid. Diane de Poitiers, a beautiful woman of 27 years, was part of the French
Their pragmatism is best reflected in the relations
Spain, to outwit
group that saw off the two princes. She was the
between men and women. Numerous articles about
England and to
granddaughter of a French king, the wife of the
French President Emmanuel Macron, and his wife
further commerce
Brigitte, have appeared in the media. A centrist who
with the two states ... Count of Anet, who was 39 years older than her—
another example of a young woman with a much
was an investment banker, Macron beat Marine Le
She organised the
older man—and had been a friend of Queen
Pen of the right-wing National Front by a big margin
education of the 10
Claude. Seeing the desolate little boys, Diane
in the run-off on 7 May, after no candidate emerged
royal children and
went to them, sat them on her lap and assured
with a majority in the first round, on 23 April. Unlike
collaborated with
them that they would be returning to France very
some of the previous French presidents who had
Queen Catherine to soon. When the raft was ready to cross the river
their mandatory mistresses and illegitimate progenurture the French Bidoassa, Countess Diane embraced the two
ny, the 39-year-old Emmanuel Macron has none of
Renaissance
princes, kissed and blessed them.
this baggage. His is a rather unusual and impecSeveral years later, the princes returned to France, traucable biography in a world with a plenitude of ageing sugar
matised by their incarceration in a bleak Spanish castle. Broken
daddies and their nubile companions.
in health, Crown Prince Francis died three years after his
Emmanuel Macron was a schoolboy of 15 when he became
return. Henri became the dauphin or crown prince. But he
enchanted by his drama and literature teacher, Brigitte, who
never recovered from the horror of imprisonment. His father,
was then 39, as old as Macron is now. Her daughter was in
“the old gallant,” had repudiated the terms of peace with the
his class. Schoolboy and schoolgirl crushes on teachers are
Spanish king, and this had extended their incarceration.
nothing unusual. Many people experience these fleeting
Eight years later, the Dauphin Henri married Catherine de
emotions without enduring repercussions. Not in this case.
Medici, a niece of the pope and a member of the illustrious
Emmanuel Macron’s passion for his drama teacher was recipfamily that had nurtured the Italian Renaissance. They were
rocated, and endured. But even in France, the couple’s mutuof the same age. She brought a huge dowry. At about the same
al passion faced societal disapproval, the intervention of his
time, Henri renewed his acquaintance with Diane de Poitiers,
parents, who swiftly moved him to another school, and the
who had become a widow. She was as attractive as before, but
antagonism of Brigitte’s husband and three children.
displayed her mourning by wearing gowns of black and white,
The reverse situation usually causes less furore. When an
which only enhanced her beauty. Although he was 18 and she
elderly president has a comely wife 24 years younger, people
38, Diane became the dauphin’s mistress. While Catherine
shrug it off because old men have taken young women as wives,
remained the titular dauphiness and later the queen of France,
mistresses and concubines from times immemorial. At the
it was Diane who wielded immense power and influence in
same time, it is not historically uncommon for young men to
the French court for 25 years. Her intelligence and political
have had liaisons with older women. For example, impoverished
T
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POSTSCRIPT
WORLD | POEM
way for the grand successes of King Henri IV and Louis IV.
But when King Henri died after a jousting accident, the
long-suffering Queen Catherine banished Diane, Duchess de
Valentinois, from the French court.
Benjamin Franklin, one of the founding fathers of the United
States, also admired older women. Perhaps he had heard the
story of the French king and Diane de Poitiers. He had, after all,
lived in France for several years to learn French politics and
to garner French support for a possible war of independence
against Britain. His friend Marquis de Lafayette even led a
regiment in America’s war against the British. “Because as they
have more Knowledge of the World and their Minds are better
stor’d with Observations, their Conversation is more improving
and more lastingly agreeable,” Franklin wrote in a letter in 1745,
later archived with the title Advice to a Young Man on the Choice
of a Mistress. “Because when Women cease to be handsome,
they study to be good. To maintain their Influence over Men,
they supply the Diminution of Beauty by an Augmentation of
Utility. They learn to do a thousand Services small and great,
and are the most tender and useful of all Friends when you
are sick. Thus they continue amiable. And hence there is
hardly such a thing to be found as an old Woman who is not a
good Woman.” Stephen Vizinczey, author of In Praise of Older
Women: The Amorous Recollections of András Vajda, endorses
Franklin’s view.
Macron, therefore, perhaps begins with an advantage over
other French presidents. For like Diane de Poitiers, Madame
Macron is a good adviser and vigorously assists her man in
furthering his political career. Macron’s romance has turned
out to have a pragmatic dimension after all.
Achala Moulik ([email protected]) is a retired IAS officer, who has written several
works of fiction and non-fiction. She received the prestigious Pushkin Medal for her work
on Russian history and culture.
LAST LINES
acumen made her King Henri’s most trusted adviser. She
advised him to establish peace with Spain, to outwit England
and to further commerce with the two states. Henri showered
her with castles, jewels and titles. She organised the education
of the 10 royal children and collaborated with Queen Catherine
to nurture the French Renaissance.
It may be a coincidence, but it was during this era that
France became stable and prosperous, and this paved the
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Economic & Political Weekly